Cash used in less than half of retail transactions in UK for first time

19 September 2016 - Janet Bird

For the first time, cash was used in less than half of retail transactions in the UK last year, a new report has revealed.

The British Retail Consortium's (BRC) Annual Payments Survey showed that cash was used in just 47.15 percent of retail transactions in 2015, a drop of 4.94 percent from 2014.

The survey analyses at the methods of payment UK shoppers are using when buying goods in store and online, and how this differs from previous years.

The BRC said last year's reduction in the number of customers paying with actual money represented the biggest fall in five years and meant almost 20 percent fewer transactions with cash had taken place in 2015 than in 2011.

The popularity of contactless payments via debit cards for small transactions is believed to have sped the reduction in the number of people using cash to pay for goods.